The blog of the JRN 320 multimedia newsroom course at Stony Brook University.

Blogs That Are the Reel Deal

With all of the films released every week and the many more in development, it seems impossible to keep up with all of the essential information in the world of movies. Fortunately, there are several online blogs that cover the film world in an engaging way. Here are three examples of some excellent blogging about movies:

What makes The Playlist so excellent is the vast amount of coverage they give to films past, present and future. Whether the movie is a blockbuster or an independent feature, The Playlist will give it web space if it garners attention. Articles are posted throughout each day from the crack of dawn onward. The writing is also very enticing, creating a more conversational style. It’s as if the writer of each piece is sitting across from the reader talking about the article in the way of casual conversation instead of strict news delivery.

As thorough as The Playlist is, it would be helpful for the site to expand its field of coverage. Since Indiewire (the site that hosts The Playlist) covers television news, giving that medium the same in-dept coverage would attract more viewers. Regardless, The Playlist is a hot ticket for anyone looking to learn or write about

This blog of culture website Uproxx states who their audiences is quite clearly. Here is a more comedic approach to talking about the world of movies, but there is still some solid talk found here. This division of culture website Uproxx has a much more (to put it bluntly) nerdy approach to its site: the green goo as the blog’s backdrop, the title of the blog itself, the articles with references and links to subjects of geek culture. This is a more freewheeling and relaxed style of blogging.

But FilmDrunk also has great writing. Their reviews are full of nerdy references (comparing the new sci-fi blockbuster “Jupiter Ascending” to the infamous sci-fi bomb “Battlefield Earth”) but still gets the point of what they’re saying across (“Jupiter Ascending” is a horrible movie). Articles featured range from typical news about upcoming movies to retrospectives on past classics. But even when they post articles about the strangest movie-related events (say a story about a man who went to SHOCKING lengths to look like the Captain America villain, Red Skull), the writers engage readers like they’re telling a buddy about it by the water cooler. FilmDrunk is much more approachable and enjoyable to the average film fan looking for a laugh along with the news.

FilmDrunk is not the most serious of movie news sources and the site itself could use a more useful organizational structure. Regardless, this is a blog that garners traction for being an entertaining report on entertainment.

IGN is particularly known for their coverage of the video game world, but they have a pulse on the movie world as well. IGN’s striking design allows for hot stories about upcoming films to cover the sides of each page. If someone is looking for a visual delivery of movie news, someofthestories posted feature a video giving the story visual detail. IGN has a much more professional design to its movie blog.

Its writing is also more strict news delivery. IGN does do reviews, interviews and speculation on upcoming projects. Primarily, it is meant to deliver news to fans. It’s a piece of IGN, which is still meant for gaming events mostly, so movies might take a bit of a backseat. But if IGN wants to gain a bit more traction, expanding the types of coverage they give to movies would certainly help. The reason FilmDrunk and The Playlist here is because they have a more engaging style of writing an article selection. IGN is probably the most basic movie blog on this list, more of a starting point for those looking for an informative and memorable online movie news source.